Friday, 25 January 2013

Bristol City Council motion to end destitution

I received this message via Mike Kaye:Mike.Kaye@amnesty.org.uk through the mailing list of QARN (Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network) (http://www.qarn.org.uk/homepage/)

It concerns a motion passed by Bristol Council. Maybe we could encourage Sheffield Council to do a similar thing?Tim Neal On
15 January 2013, Bristol City Council passed Cllr. Ron Stones motion to
end destitution at their full council meeting. The motion includes many
specific action, such as the Council becoming a member of Still Human
Still Here and practical steps to support asylum seekers. The full text
is attached below. The motion was approved by 80% of the councillors and
had support from the Labour, Lib Dem and Green Party groups. It was
also supported by the Lord Mayor and the new City Mayor, George
Ferguson, who said"We should not tolerate destitution in our city for any reason". Bristol City of Sanctuary worked together with other local organisations to mobilise support for this motion.

This
follows the Glasgow motion passed on 18 June 2012. Hopefully we can
get other local council's to follow in their footsteps.

-----------------------------

Motion to End Destitution:

Bristol A City Of Sanctuary????

Bristol
formally declared itself a City Of Sanctuary in June 2011. By so doing,
the city council committed itself to recognise the plight of asylum
seekers forced to flee their home countries for expressing views or
holding opinions that ruling regimes disagreed with or found to be
confrontational.

In exercising their human right of free speech
in their own countries, many have received death threats, suffered
beatings and threats to their family members, forcing them to abandon
their homes, their country and all their possessions. Here in Britain,
if their asylum cases are refused by the Home Office, they lose all
financial support and accommodation. Current laws also prevent them from
working.

This leaves them in a cycle of deprivation and poverty
that is currently impossible to break. Many are forced into homelessness
on the street.

Council welcomes the Glasgow City Council
initiative in passing a motion, highlighting the concerns for refused
asylum seekers and the lack of support and facilities UK wide.

Council
asserts that if our proud declaration stating that Bristol is a City of
Sanctuary is to be meaningful and worthy of its fine words, we must act
to improve this situation with the following actions:

1. The
Mayor writes on behalf of the city council to the Minister of State
deploring the government policy that forces refused asylum seekers into
destitution while they continue to fight for a safe haven from
persecution.

2. The Mayor writes to the UK government seeking a
change of policy to allow local authorities to assist refused asylum
seekers in danger of destitution and provide equal emergency provision
to refused asylum seekers as they would to any other homeless person.

3.
The Mayor calls on all Bristol MPs to support the content of this
motion and to raise the matter in the House of Commons, and support a
change in current laws regarding asylum applications by removing
restrictions on local authorities in the support they can provide to
destitute asylum seekers.

4. The council agrees to produce a
report highlighting all existing support available in Bristol including
housing, training, education, and legal advice open to vulnerable asylum
applicants.

5. The city council should work closely with the
voluntary sector through a designated officer to provide help, support
and advice to applicants and enable a coordinated response to be easily
available to those in need at this vulnerable time of their lives.

6.
The council should join the national campaign Still Human, Still here(a
coalition of 29 organisations, including the Church of England and
Catholic Archbishop Conferences, Amnesty International and the Red
Cross, who are proposing practical solutions to ending the destitution
of refused asylum seekers in the UK.)

7. The council agrees to
seek further support for this motion and actions via the Local
Government Association and encouraging other councils in the UK to
follow Bristol’s lead.